Announced! Product image and description subject to change.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, this eemslike it will be a bit cramped. Hopefully all the options will be awesome.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Paging Dr. Augunas, Dr. Augunas...
^_^
Yeah I can't help but think that Augunas is going to be involved in this some how.
You have already sold me on this one.
I am a little worried about how many races are in this book and the space issues. However, I am glad to see that these races are getting attention! I'll definitely be picking this one up. :)
Something more about Kitsune? I'll definitely be getting a copy of this. :)
I am also worried about 7 races in one book but least they are finally getting some love. I just hope they change the format of the book to better fit this larger number. So basically we would get four pages for each race if they are divided them evenly.
One one hand...yay! more obscure races are getting love
On the other hand...7 to one book? that's not exactly going to add more info/options for each race other than what Advanced Race Guide and other sources have already provided...
Four pages can be a lot, depending on style. The highly appreciated 'Variant Tiefling Abilities' table in Blood of Fiends needed nearly 2 pages, but gave 100 (!) little new character options. The current description sounds like 'half fluff, half crunch', which leaves us with two pages of new rules. Favored class bonuses seem to get some love, I like that.
Also there could be content applicable for multiple of these seven races, or even all of them.
Rysky,
I'm sure gnolls will get the same love as centaurs and minotaurs.
Yeah I can't help but think that Augunas is going to be involved in this some how.Paging Dr. Augunas, Dr. Augunas...
^_^
I am pretty sure he said he finished working on something for Paizo that wasn't announced yet. I would guess it was this.
Don't worry Owen. I still give you cookies for the fact you're a grand developer and good guy. :)
|
@Rysky: Well, there's always the Advanced Races Compendium, but that's 3PP. XD Still, I like the look of this book...
Yeah, but I'd want it more for the Golarion flavor and descriptions than just crunch.
... Which I think Inner Sea Monster Codex already did, but I would like some more stuff for them anyway XD
More Gnolls!
I'll definitely be getting this one, especially if it has even just a two-page spread on other potential and real 'beastly' races in Pathfinder and Golarion.
Besides the 7 race issue per se,
The premise of the book as "examination of their place in the world of Golarion" seems a bit strange,
given several of them are supposedly associated with regions of Southern Garund for which we have
practically no over-arching background material, so knowing the race-specific details feels "off" to me.
Conversely, we know a BIT more about Tian Xia, but particularly for Nagaji,
it seems weird to get info on "their place in the world" while we don't have a Gazetteer on Nagajor itself,
which seemingly is the nexus of the race, and understanding it's internal/external politics and society/ies
seems central to understanding how the Nagaji race fits into the world...
I mean, it's like focusing on Elves in Golarion without having gone into Kyonin at all...
worse, really, since some Elves do exist on Golarion largely unrelated from Kyonin, while Nagaji were created in Nagajor.
While still missing info on the rest of Tian Xia states,
the other TX races seem less localized/region-specific than Nagaji to not be as big a problem in that regard. (?)
Rather than the artificial "furry folk" theme, it seems like it would be more cohesive with Golarion
to have a "Races of Tian Xia" product (incl. Hobgoblins, Samsarans) focusing there and more strongly developing Tian Xia lore
and a "Races of Southern Garund" product (possibly incl. Human/Demihuman ethnicities/cultures?) more strongly focused there.
Although I guess I really just want more region/nation-specific info for those areas, since I couldn't imagine
RP'ing "Inner Sea" cultures with the same of amount of info we have on Tian Xia for instance, much less Southern Garund.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I would buy this books so damn fast.Rysky,
I'm sure gnolls will get the same love as centaurs and minotaurs.
Add Lizardfolk and I'm in.
|
|
Ngggggghhhhh, this so needs to be a thing.Add Lizardfolk and I'm in.I would buy this books so damn fast.Rysky,
I'm sure gnolls will get the same love as centaurs and minotaurs.
Just checked and Gnolls and Lizardfolk were covered in the world neutral Monster Codex, not the Inner Sea one, so MOAR GNOLL LOVE PLZ!
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Owen (or anyone else): Is there any chance this one particular player companion be bumped up to 64 pg/double-sized-ish? I don't think it'd be that difficult to find enough content to fill it, and it'd give all of us players & GMs more content on our favored race(s). I, for one, would still be interested in grabbing it at the higher price bump.
Edit: Ninja'd by Rysky while editing/clarifying.
Just checked and Gnolls and Lizardfolk were covered in the world neutral Monster Codex, not the Inner Sea one, so MOAR GNOLL LOVE PLZ!Ngggggghhhhh, this so needs to be a thing.Add Lizardfolk and I'm in.I would buy this books so damn fast.Rysky,
I'm sure gnolls will get the same love as centaurs and minotaurs.
Would a Blood of (on?) the Plains work with centaurs, gnolls, and maybe lamia? I can't think of a better title that would be inclusive of minotaurs, but I'd be interested in such a book.
Likewise, maybe the nagaji could be bumped from BotBeast, and instead be part of a Blood of the Scales with vishkanya and lizardfolk?
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Owen (or anyone else): Is there any chance this one particular player companion be bumped up to 64 pg/double-sized-ish? I don't think it'd be that difficult to find enough content to fill it, and I'd still be interested in grabbing it at the higher price bump.
Listen to this Slaadi for she is wise and reasonable.
|
|
Just checked and Gnolls and Lizardfolk were covered in the world neutral Monster Codex, not the Inner Sea one, so MOAR GNOLL LOVE PLZ!Ngggggghhhhh, this so needs to be a thing.Add Lizardfolk and I'm in.I would buy this books so damn fast.Rysky,
I'm sure gnolls will get the same love as centaurs and minotaurs.
Would a Blood of (on?) the Plains work with centaurs, gnolls, and maybe lamia? I can't think of a better title that would be inclusive of minotaurs, but I'd be interested in such a book.
Likewise, maybe the nagaji could be bumped from BotBeast, and instead be part of a Blood of the Scales with vishkanya and lizardfolk?
I would kill for a big ole book of Lamia.
Now if we could find a good name for a book full of them, Lilends, and Mariliths...
Developer
|
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Owen (or anyone else): Is there any chance this one particular player companion be bumped up to 64 pg/double-sized-ish? I don't think it'd be that difficult to find enough content to fill it, and I'd still be interested in grabbing it at the higher price bump.
I can quickly and easily saw no, but not because we don't think there's enough content for such a book. I could easily do 32 pages on each of these races.
Sadly,we have tons of evidence that a 32-page book on grippli won't sell well. We DO want to give more info on the race, but we simply have to combine that with other racers, and look at ways to make sure even non-grippli players find some of the grippli info interesting.
But none of that is going to mean having a 32-page line kick out a 64-page book. We have a limit to how many pages we can develop, edit, and lay out in a month. Adding more pages here has to mean reducing the size of something else.
Not to mention we have subscribers, who expect to manage their budgets based on books of a given size coming out at roughly the same time every month. there are enough variables that impact that calculation without us adding one by sticking a 64-page product into a line that subscribers know is only 32 pages.
We did a hardback Races of the Inner Sea. We did Advanced Races Guide. We did the Dragon Empires Gazeteer. I feel like this is a good time to add *some* more information and material for a set of less-common races, which lets us expand the options for a lot of players in one book and hopefully still sell enough copies to pay for the art, writing, development, layout, printing, overhead, and so on.
We DO look at whether a given subject or set of subjects are a good match, based on what we have said about them, what players and GMs are asking for, what product lines have room, and so on. And we are always examining whether the lines we are presenting are still meeting customer needs.
For the moment, this is the best match of what we want to do, what we can do, and what we think we won't lose money on.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I would be happy with just 4 pages per race so long as those pages were full of new information rather than rewrites of material from other books.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
~well-reasoned insights~
I figured that'd be the case, but assumed it wouldn't hurt to ask. Thanks. :)
I would be happy with just 4 pages per race so long as those pages were full of new information rather than rewrites of material from other books.
I imagine this book will have to include at least some rewritten material from previous supplements for all those who don't have RotIS, ARG, or the Dragon Empires books. Hopefully they'll find the happy but tricky balance to make it worth the price for those of us who do have those books, and yet crave MOAR-&-new.
---
Listen to this Slaadi for she is wise and reasonable.
Hey now, them's fightin' words!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I could easily do 32 pages on each of these races.
I would love that. Held back on a comment asking why you don´t go back to books like halflings of golarion. Pretty sure at least for Kitsune there´s a big enough audience. Catfolk and ratfolk perhaps too.
But, yeah for this book, i take it as a good sign, even though there have been some not so good signs lately. I´ll buy it^^
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Okies, let's rassle!Listen to this Slaadi for she is wise and reasonable.Hey now, them's fightin' words!
This will end well.
I really hope this book sells well because I would love more books(softcover and hardcover) that focuses on non-core races.
| 8 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't think it's saying to much to acknowledge Alex is working on this book, but I also have some awesome staff writers producing material for it as well!
This is sort of a relief to have my involvement with this confirmed from the start; I was worried that I was going to be badgered with questions that I had to avoid at PaizoCon!
So obviously, I can't tell you anything about this book's content. Not yet, anyway. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get asked to write the product blog about Blood of the Beast. That would be SUCH a huge honor, but its far more likely that you'll have to wait until October to hear me say anything more about it.
Besides the 7 race issue per se, The premise of the book as "examination of their place in the world of Golarion" seems a bit strange, given several of them are supposedly associated with regions of Southern Garund for which we have practically no over-arching background material, so knowing the race-specific details feels "off" to me.
As mentioned, I can't say anything about the book's contents, but please believe me when I say that Owen is a genius, and he knows what you're afraid will happen to the races in this book. I do too; I was there in the trenches with you. Please know that every race is being covered by people who are interested in them. We can talk about what its like to be a vanara without talking about Casmaron, just like Blood of Angels is all about aasimars, but hardly mentions Tianjing.
Rather than the artificial "furry folk" theme, it seems like it would be more cohesive with Golarion to have a "Races of Tian Xia" product (incl. Hobgoblins, Samsarans) focusing there and more strongly developing Tian Xia lore and a "Races of Southern Garund" product (possibly incl. Human/Demihuman ethnicities/cultures?) more strongly focused there.
Listen, I'm there with you. The grouping is arbitrary. But is it any more arbitrary then grouping drow, wayangs, or fetchlings together in Blood of Shadows? Those are basically all "darkness and shadow themed races," and any setting justification you try to use works for two, but not the remaining one. For instance, wayangs and fetchlings are from the Shadow Plane. But not drow. Drow and fetchlings primarily live in the Darklands. But not Wayangs. As Owen said before, sometimes the obvious category is the only category that will give a topic enough appeal to make it happen. Kitsune have a wide audience. But kitsune + catfolk + ratfolk + nagaji? Much wider, and therefore more likely to be successful.
Here's something I don't share often enough: I'm not a furry. I don't associate with that fandom, and when I was asked to come aboard on this project, I told Owen flat-out that the "furry folk" theme, as you called it, worried me. I really don't need any more people in my local PFS lodge assuming anything else about me. Owen, however, quickly convinced me that this wasn't the case with Blood of the Beast, and I felt foolish for thinking that he was going for a "furry folk" theme with this product. After all, I had forgotten the Rule of Owen; first and foremost, Owen is a genius.
If you're part of the furry fandom, you will probably like this book. If you're not, but you're interested in even one of the races, you might still like this book. All I ask is that you give it a chance. Because if you don't, then it is highly unlikely that you'll see any of these races in any greater capacity then how you see them here. When you "vote with your wallet," your vote doesn't go against the layout or the flavor-to-crunch-ratio, it goes against the topic first and foremost. So if this topic even remotely interests you, please invest in it.
I promise that did everything I could as a freelancer to make your investment worth your time, and I have unshakable faith that everyone at Paizo, Inc will do the same.
And now, I skulk away back into the shadows of the internet until October! (Or until the next product I worked on goes live, which should be soooooooon....)
Hopefully this includes extensive Racial Favored Class bonuses for hybrid, occult and vigilante classes, those are starting to become rather glaring holes in flavorful rules coverage for non-core races.
Ooooo. I hadn't considered that possibility. Yes, please!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The premise of the book as "examination of their place in the world of Golarion" seems a bit strange, given ... we have practically no over-arching background material [for regional context]
Rather than the artificial "furry folk" theme, it seems like it would be more cohesive with Golarion to have [cultural-geographic focus]
Listen, I'm there with you. The grouping is arbitrary. But is it any more arbitrary then grouping drow, wayangs, or fetchlings together in Blood of Shadows?
Here's something I don't share often enough: I'm not a furry. ... I really don't need any more people in my local PFS lodge assuming anything else about me.
:-) Thanks for the feedback, if anything it reminds that you're keeping in mind the stuff that I'm concerned about. [Coincidentally, exactly Blood of Shadows provoked the same "theme of convenience" reaction for me, IMHO would have been stronger with heavier Shadow Plane background, possibly covering D'ziriak and/or Nidalese ethnicity instead of Drow.]
I totally get that a more primary contextual focus is a different product line and not doing this product doesn't help that other product get done any sooner... So here's hoping feedback/success from this does spur those other tangents to be pursued, maybe some discussions from developing this product will get the ball rolling for a more context exposing product, which won't necessarily be race-specific.
BTW, since it's obvious that singular nation gazeteers are a really slow way to cover the world of Golarion (don't stop though!)), I should say I am interested in "cultural/regional group" products which cover a cohesive unit (even if the parts may be antagonistic etc), f.e. People of Shu, People of Obari, etc. Illuminating the history of how these nations/peoples/races developed (e.g. Lung Wa Empire) is interesting context for me, and adds another level of potentially intersecting identities and meanings... Stuff Paizo has done in that line has been helpful IMHO.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I would like the favorite class bonuses for those classes as well.
I hope there will be a lot of racial feats and alternate racial traits.
